A former aide on the leadership staff of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., has emerged as Republicans' chosen candidate in a vital Eastside race for the Washington state senate.

Jinyoung Lee Englund touts key endorsements, including interim State Sen. Dino Rossi, in her bid for the 45th District Senate seat. The special election comes after the death last year of popular Republican State Sen. Andy Hill.

Englund is a University of Washington graduate who began her working life in Mozambique, but has deep Republican campaign roots. She was also tapped for The Hill newspaper's "50 Most Beautiful" list in 2015.

She worked on the leadership staff of McMorris Rodgers, a member of the GOP House leadership in Congress, and supported Rossi in his 2010 U.S. Senate campaign. She spoke in defense of Mitt Romney in 2012 as a member of the Republican National Committee's Asian Pacific Americans advisory committee.

She was tapped by The Hill during a stint as advocate for the digital currency Bitcoin as vice president of strategy for the Digital Currency Council.

The 45th District race will determine control of the legislature, and who holds power in Olympia.

Democrats have the governor's office, and a slim majority in the state House of Representatives. The senate consists of 24 Republicans, 24 Democrats and a renegade Democrat (State Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlach) who votes to give control to the Republicans.

The Democrats have united behind a strong candidate in Manka Dhingra, a senior deputy in the King County Prosecutor's Office. Dhingra has raised nearly $200,000. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has committed an additional $200,000 to New Direction PAC, a national group which is backing Dhingra.

Englund was until recently registered to vote in Bellevue, in the 48th District. The campaign explained Tuesday that the candidate and her husband Geoff maintained the registration while he was doing military duty overseas. She is now registered in the district.

The 45th District, anchored in Bellevue and Kirkland, was carried easily by Hillary Clinton and Jay Inslee in last November's election. It has one of the highest education levels of any legislative district in the state.

Despite years of work in Republican campaigns, Englund and her backers were quick to move away from her partisan background.

Englund is "an independent thinker as well as an exceptional and pragmatic leader," Rossi said in a statement. King County Council member Kathy Lambert stressed Englund's "willingness to work across the aisle and problem-solving nature."

"Senator Andy Hill leaves behind a legacy of service to others, commitment to community and bipartisan solutions to local problems," Englund said in announcing her candidacy.

Kelly Steele, a strategist working with New Direction PAC, saw Englund's candidacy in a different light.

"After months of recruitment rejection, the GOP has been forced to cast their lot in Washington state's most important 2017 race with a former DC lobbyist and Republican political operative," Steele said.

"In this era of increasing incompetence from Trump and Republicans, the stakes are too high -- voters in the 45th District simply can't trust a partisan with no real record or experience in public service to fight and deliver for them."

Englund hails from a military family. Her father served 21 years in the Army, her brother is on active duty with the Army, and her husband is an active duty Marine who has served 17 years of combined enlisted and commissioned service.

Columnist Joel Connelly has written about politics for the P-I since 1973.